Jocelyn's POV

"Whoa, Jocelyn! You've been holding out on us, haven't you? If you're getting engaged, what are you even doing at a bachelorette party?" someone called out.

Kristine leaned in, eyes bright with curiosity. "Who's the lucky guy? Since when is this a thing, Josie? We haven't heard a single whisper."

"Just now," I replied casually.

The phone in my pocket started to buzz, each pulse angrier than the last.

Shawn's texts came through one after another.

"Jocelyn, what are you pulling?"

"Look, I know I shouldn't have hugged Alyssa, but I couldn't just walk away from the game. Kristine's getting married in two days. I couldn't blow her off and make things awkward."

"Be reasonable. I told you I'd marry you. I meant it."

After reading them all, I flipped the phone face-down on the table without typing a word back.

I just watched Shawn from across the room. As if to prove a point, he tightened his grip, pulling Alyssa even closer against him.

"Since you're the couple of the day, why don't you two give us a kiss?" someone suggested.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

The crowd egged them on until they were pressed together.

Alyssa was flush against his chest, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Stop it, you guys… Shawn and I haven't seen each other in five years. We can't just start making out."

She put on a show of resisting, but as she tilted her head up, her lips nearly brushed his jawline.

I'd been in love with Shawn for more than five years.

From the time I was a kid, I'd known my life was already mapped out for me. Every day was an endless cycle of tests and expectations. I'd stopped looking forward to anything a long time ago.

Then, one afternoon, when I was leaving the library to turn in some paperwork like any other day, a basketball came flying straight at me.

I was so dizzy from low blood sugar that I couldn't even move. I just closed my eyes and braced for the impact.

Honestly, a part of me thought getting knocked out wouldn't be the worst thing.

But then Shawn called out my name and stepped in front of me, shielding me from the blow.

That moment tore a hole in the monotonous fabric of my life.

I started carving out time in my schedule to watch his games and attend his debates.

I slowly fell for him, but when I heard he had a childhood sweetheart he'd known forever, I buried my feelings deep.

Then, five years ago, Alyssa moved abroad. At the same time, the Lowell family was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. I thought my moment had finally come.

"Enough, give them a break. Shawn, even my grandma's heard about your mom nagging you to get married. She says if you're not hitched by the end of the year, she'll break your legs herself," Kristine chimed in.

She covered her mouth, laughing. "I told her I'd book you a room at my family's orthopedic clinic, but it looks like you're saved now that Alyssa is back."

"You and Josie are a funny pair, though," she added. "Either you're tearing each other apart in business for five years, or you're both keeping your love lives under wraps. What is this, a footrace to the altar?"

The room erupted.

"No wonder Jocelyn is getting engaged on the spot. If Shawn beat her to the altar, she'd probably send funeral wreaths to the wedding out of spite."

For five years, everyone had assumed I was out to get Shawn.

In reality, I'd been the one flagging his missteps so they'd never see the light of day.

I was the one who'd pulled him back from the edge of bankruptcy, funneling him money and connections behind the scenes.

I'd rather be called petty and small-minded than wound his pride by letting people call him a kept man.

That was why, in five years, we'd never once held hands in public.

We arrived at restaurants separately.

At the movies, we sat three rows apart.

And yet I was happy to do it. I was the one who'd fallen for him first.

The day he finally agreed to be with me, he told me with bloodshot eyes that he needed five years.

He promised that on our fifth anniversary, he'd go public and give me the wedding of my dreams.

That was supposed to be this year.

That was supposed to be today.

But here he was, holding someone else in front of everyone.

"Come on, Jocelyn, don't leave us hanging. Who is the guy?"

The room kept pushing.

I met Shawn's ink-dark eyes and curled my lips into a smirk. "I can't say just yet. But… he's in this room."

Jocelyn's POV

"What? He's right here? Who's been keeping such a good secret? Come on, man, stand up and show yourself!" someone called out, head swiveling around the room.

The room erupted into a buzz of speculation as everyone started eyeing each other, the noise reaching a fever pitch.

At this, Shawn let out a subtle sigh of relief.

But the very next comment made his chest tighten all over again.

"You know… Jocelyn and Shawn are actually a lot alike. They both have a knack for dropping bombshells out of nowhere."

"If it hadn't been for Shawn's legendary bender after Alyssa left, none of us would have ever known he'd been carrying a torch for her for three whole years."

The atmosphere turned awkward for a split second.

Shawn broke the silence to explain, his voice clearer and louder than it had been all evening.

"That's ancient history. Stop hyping it up."

His eyes cut through the crowd and landed on me. He looked unusually tense.

But I suddenly didn't want to dwell on how much he'd loved Alyssa during those three years or on the decade they'd spent with their lives intertwined.

"You guys keep going. I'm hitting the restroom."

I pushed the door open, and a cool draft from the hallway hit me.

Only then did I pull my phone out and send two brief texts.

"You heard all of it."

"The marriage. I'm in."

The man on the other end seemed ecstatic. The typing indicator flickered incessantly.

But before the reply came through, Shawn caught up to me.

He grabbed my wrists, pinned them above my head, and trapped me against the wall. "Jocelyn, I told you that's all over. What's this little tantrum about?"

The overwhelming scent of oud washed over me.

Like a man possessed, he went for my lips with a desperate, aggressive hunger.

He always did this whenever we had a disagreement.

He was counting on the soft spot I had for him, on the part of me that couldn't quite walk away. All he had to do was wear me down. He knew that the moment I softened, I'd find a way to forgive him.

But this time, I turned my head away.

His kiss landed on my cheek, and he froze.

He raked a hand through his hair, his voice tight with frustration. "Fine. I shouldn't have done it. But Jocelyn, Alyssa just got back. My mom reminded me how close our families were growing up and asked me to look out for her."

He tried to talk me down. "How embarrassing would it have been for her if every other woman had a partner and she was the only one left standing alone?"

What about me?

I'd turned away every other man for his sake. Did that mean I had this coming?

"Josie, no matter how jealous you are, you can't go around joking about getting engaged to someone else," he said, his tone softening into something coaxing.

"Engagements take planning. I need to pick the right date, get everything set up, and give you the wedding you deserve. All of that takes time."

"And as for my mom…" he hesitated. "I'll handle her."

Shawn's mom had never liked me.

Fed by the rumors, she'd decided I was an arrogant, domineering woman who looked down on her son and was up to no good.

Lucky for her, her son had grit. He'd clawed his company back to life—even while I was, supposedly, crushing him.

So when Shawn first took me home to meet her, she slapped me across the face and told me to get the hell out.

She threw everything within reach at me—espresso cups, vases, slippers—and one of them shattered and sliced open my hand.

Shawn and I were forced to flee. I later found out that her husband had run off abroad with his mistress and the family's money, leaving her to suffer a mental breakdown in the aftermath.

That was why Shawn, terrified of his mom hurting me again, had insisted we keep our relationship a secret.

"Shawn? Where are you?"

In the middle of our standoff, Alyssa's bright, melodic voice rang out from the other end of the hallway.

Shawn let go of me at once, panic flashing across his face.

"Josie, go back inside. I'll come find you in a bit. I…"

Watching him scramble like that, a sudden wave of bitter resentment rose in my chest.

I couldn't bring myself to believe that five years of devotion could be brushed aside the moment Alyssa called his name.

I wanted to test him one last time. Just to see if he'd choose me. Just once.

"Shawn, have you forgotten what day it is today?"

Today was the day we were supposed to commit to each other forever.

Jocelyn's POV

When Shawn heard my question, a look of genuine confusion crossed his face.

"What day?" he blurted out.

It seemed I was the only fool who'd actually kept track—the only one holding onto the dream of us getting married, the only one who remembered that, from the moment that basketball came hurtling toward me, I'd wanted to spend forever with him.

Watching his blank expression, I felt the knot of resentment in my chest suddenly unravel.

"It's nothing," I said quietly.

Alyssa's footsteps were drawing closer.

Shawn straightened his cuffs and walked away without looking back.

"We'll talk when we get home later," he tossed over his shoulder. "I'm going back out. Don't let Alyssa see you."

"There you are, Shawn! I've been looking everywhere," Alyssa chirped as she rounded the corner.

Shawn shifted half a step sideways, his tall frame deliberately shrouding me in the shadows of the hallway.

She tugged at his sleeve, her voice dropping into a practiced, pouty whine. "Shawn, my flight got in so late that all the hotels downtown were fully booked. Could I crash at your place tonight? Please?"

That place was where Shawn and I lived together.

Instinctively, he started to refuse, but Alyssa beat him to the punch. "Mrs. Lowell wants to see me tomorrow. Just give me a lift, Shawn. You're headed there anyway, aren't you?"

For five years, Shawn had promised he'd handle his mom's hostility toward me. And yet, every time I showed up in front of her, she'd end up dragging me by my hair and slapping me across the face.

Alyssa, on the other hand, had always been the apple of her eye.

Shawn went silent for what felt like an eternity. Just as I felt the hope drain out of me, he broke the silence.

"Okay."

That single word was the breaking point. Whatever had been keeping me upright finally collapsed.

My phone kept buzzing with Shawn's messages.

"Josie, don't come home tonight."

"I don't want Alyssa to see you and tell my mom about us."

I had no intention of waiting until tomorrow. If he wanted to spend his life playing the dutiful son and the doting childhood sweetheart, I wasn't going to stand in his way anymore.

I slipped back home under the cover of night and packed everything that mattered into a single suitcase. Everything else went straight into the trash.

When I found my old medical records in the nightstand, the ache in my chest throbbed all over again.

Years ago, when Shawn was desperate to save his company, he'd cut into the business of some local thugs. They'd kidnapped him, intent on teaching him a lesson.

Back then, the Lowell family was on the verge of collapse, and no one else was willing to step in.

I was the one who called the police and went in there alone to get him out.

In the chaos of the rescue, someone lunged at him with a red-hot branding iron.

I threw myself in front of him. The iron seared into my chest, missing my heart by less than an inch.

At the hospital that day, Shawn knelt by my bed and finally returned my feelings.

He touched my wound with trembling fingers, his eyes rimmed red as he made his vow to me.

He begged me for five years, promising he would match my stature so I wouldn't have to settle for a man less than my equal.

And for all those years, he did love me. He never missed a single gift on a single important day.

Though our love stayed in the dark, behind closed doors, he was devoted to me to the point of obsession. If I so much as stood too close to another man, he'd take it out on me in bed for days, making me cry his name until my voice gave out.

I'd been pathetic enough to enjoy that side of him—and honest enough to admit I'd taken advantage of Alyssa's absence, slipping into the place she'd left behind.

Now that she was back, the dream was over, and I was willing to step aside.

I dragged my suitcase down the stairs and out to the curb. Just as I was about to call an Uber, a car horn chirped. The man who'd been watching me all night at the party was sitting behind the wheel, grinning at me.

"What are you doing here?"

I was stunned, but he just hopped out and popped the trunk open like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Just trying to make a good impression. Now that the great Ms. Clarke has finally agreed to marry me, the least I can do is be her chauffeur."

A free ride was a free ride. I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I started to lift my suitcase into the trunk, and he stepped in to help.

Unexpectedly, the suitcase slipped, and our hands brushed.

Just as I was pulling mine back in a panic, Shawn's inscrutable, icy voice cut in from behind me.

"Jocelyn, I told you to stay out for one night, and you've already found someone to keep you company?"